This invention relates to road flares, or fusees, and, particularly, to a method and apparatus for assembling a substantially U-shaped wire support stand to an otherwise completed fusee device.
Road flares, or fusees, are commonly utilized to provide a danger or warning signal in the event of a collision, breakdown, or any of a variety of emergency situations which might be encountered on highways, railroads, and the like. To be most effective, a support stand is usually supplied by which at least the ignition end of the fusee may be raised above the road or other surface. The support stand serves the dual purpose of enabling the fusee to be seen more easily from greater distances, and of separating the lighted end of the fusee from water, oil and other undesirable substances which may be present on the road surface.
It is, of course, well known to provide fusees with supporting devices for raising the ignition ends away from the road surface. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,678,856 and 3,285,550, paperboard supports are disclosed for attachment to one end of a fusee. Various configurations of wire supports are also known, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,467,918; 2,306,442; 2,005,826 and 1,776,354.
Substantially U-shaped wire support stands, telescoped over one end of cylindrical fusees, are also known. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,524,409 and 2,090,911. As best seen in the latter patent, a U-shaped wire device is applied to the base or rearward end of a fusee (that end opposite the ignition end) with parallel leg portions initially extending along the body of the fusee. A sleeve-like cap is telescoped over the end of the fusee and base portion of the wire support stand, and glued in place so as to attach the support to the body of the fusee. In use, the legs are bent downwardly and outwardly about the forward edge of the cap so that, in conjunction with the base of the fusee, three-point supporting contact is established with the ground or other surface. It is often the case with this type of prior art construction, however, that as the bending force is applied, the wire legs rupture the cap or sleeve, which is typically constructed of lightweight paperboard. Once the cap or sleeve is torn, there is nothing to hold the wire support stand to the fusee and the stand is therefore rendered useless. Absent a support stand, the fusee must be laid flat on the ground where poor performance can result from contact with surface water and the like. In addition, safety hazards may be created where oil or other flammable liquids are also present on the road or other surface.
Manufacture and assembly of fusees and wire support stands typically has been a very labor intensive and therefore costly process. For example, in the assembly area alone, the wire support stand, the cap or sleeve, and a suitable adhesive are normally applied to the body of each fusee manually, one at a time.
Accordingly, it is the general object of this invention to provide a fusee and wire support stand assembly wherein the support stand may be deployed to its operative position without experiencing failure of the means by which the stand is secured to the fusee. More specifically, it is the principal object of the invention to provide a method and apparatus for automatically effecting secure and reliable assembly of wire support stands to fusees.
In the present invention, a high strength tape is wrapped about the rearward end of the fusee and a corresponding end portion of the support stand to securely attach one to the other. The preferred tape according to this invention is of the type generally referred to as polyfilament tape. This has proven to be far superior to the conventional paperboard sleeve used to fasten support stands to fusees, particularly insofar as it provides great resistance against tearing in a direction perpendicular to the length of the tape. This feature allows outward bending of the legs of the wire support stand to virtually any position without rupture of the tape.
To this end, the present invention utilizes an automatically indexable, annular turntable provided with a plurality of fusee, or workpiece, holding devices, evenly spaced about the outer peripheral surface of the turntable for indexing fusees, successively to a plurality of workstations. For convenience, the following general description of the apparatus is provided in terms of the assembly of a single support stand to a single fusee, it being understood that the apparatus is capable of processing a number of fusees continuously in sequence.
At a first workstation located adjacent the turntable, wire from a supply coil is fed through a conventional straightening and cutting device, and is thereafter positioned in the form of a straight strip of wire of predetermined length across the front face of one of the holding devices mounted on the turntable. The wire is releasably held in this position as a hydraulic plunger is actuated to exert pressure on a center portion of the wire strip, pushing the latter transversely into an opening in the front face of the holding device and, in so doing, simultaneously forming the wire into a generally U-shaped fusee support stand, with leg portions extending outwardly from the holding device in a direction radially away from the turntable.
After receiving the wire support stand in an associated holding device, the turntable is indexed to the next station where one of the legs of the U-shaped support stand has its outermost or free end curled inwardly to eliminate any sharp edge which might have resulted from the cutting of the wire. The stand is subsequently indexed to the next station where the other of the leg ends is curled inwardly in the same manner.
Thereafter, the turntable is indexed to an insertion station where a fusee is pushed into the holding device, between the legs of the wire support stand, and into a position where the fusee and the wire support stand are in assembled, but not secured, relationship with respect to one another.
At the same time, fusees are fed to the insertion station from a supply hopper by an inclined conveyor. Just prior to the point where the inclined conveyor loads individual fusees into an insertion mechanism, the conveyor is temporarily halted at a fusee cleaning station. Here, a hydraulically actuated gripper device located adjacent the conveyor pushes a fusee in a direction generally transverse to the direction of movement of the conveyor, and into a dual rotary wire brush cleaning device which cleans that end of the fusee to which the wire support stand will be secured. Upon completion of the cleaning operation, the gripper device returns the fusee to its original position for further movement toward the injection mechanism.
The fusee is thereafter discharged from the inclined conveyor, whereupon the injector mechanism pushes the fusee into the opening in the front face of the holding device on the turntable as previously described. It is important to note that, during this operation, the fusee contacts the base portion of the wire support stand and thereafter carries the wire support stand approximately three inches beyond a rearward face of the holding device. This rearward exposure of the end portions of the assembled support stand and fusee provides the necessary clearance for the subsequent tape application and wrapping operations.
The fusee and support stand are held by the holding device only under relatively light spring bias pressure of individual clamping elements mounted therein. However, as the turntable indexes to the tape applicator station, a switching device actuates a piston/cylinder assembly associated with the holding device to apply pneumatic pressure against the individual clamping elements so as to securely clamp the support stand/fusee assembly in place within the holding device.
At the tape applicator workstation, a conventional tape applicator device, such as that sold by the Tapeler Corporation and as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,649,413 and 3,625,799 is utilized to apply a strip of tape of approximately four inches in length, and approximately three inches in width, across the exposed rearward end of the fusee. The turntable is then indexed to a tape wrapping workstation where a rotatable, generally C-shaped fork, mounting flexible spring like inserts, wraps the tape about the fusee/support stand so as to securely fasten one to the other.
Once the tape is wrapped securely about the fusee/support stand assembly, the pneumatically actuated clamping elements within the holding device are released so that the assembled fusee may be removed from the holding device and transferred to an off-load conveyor at a discharge station. This conveyor, in turn, delivers the finished fusee to a packaging station where the fusee is loaded into a box. After each box is filled, it is conveyed further downstream where it is sealed and loaded onto a shipping pallet or the like.
The indexable turntable preferably is provided with twelve workpiece holding devices about the periphery of its upper planar surface. As a result, and because of the location and number of workstations, as many as 7 fusees and 10 wire support stands will be positioned on the turntable at any given time during a continuous processing operation as fusees are intermittently loaded onto and discharged from the turntable. It will be further appreciated that the various operative components of the apparatus are actuated in timed relationship, with the intermittent indexing rotation of the turntable. Thus, except for the fusee cleaning device which may run continuously, all components are driven directly or indirectly by a central drive unit which may consist of, for example, a conventional electric motor and standard Ferguson drive intermitter. Through the use of conventional gearing, fluid actuators and mechanical switch operated solenoids well known to those skilled in the art, the wire forming and insertion operation, fusee supply and injection operations, and tape applying and wrapping operations are all performed in a timed, intermittent sequence which results in higher and more efficient production at lower costs than has been heretofore achievable in the prior art.